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Caramel Apple Chips

This week I decided to get a little carried away after finding the best recipe blog I have seen yet. So, I owe it to Cooking Classy for letting my imagination run away with me and letting me believe I could totally make my own caramel without a problem! Going off of her fantastic Ultimate Caramel Apple recipe, I decided to do caramel apple chips. I know that I’m not one to eat an entire caramel apple so I though dipping sliced instead of entire apples would make it a bit more manageable to eat! She also has a pretty extensive list of suggested toppings to go with for different flavor combinations but I just ended up going with a few things and leaving a few plain and classic.
So about half way through the process I couldn’t think of anything other than ‘Why did I think this was a good idea!?’ and ‘Why are we doing this?!’ but it was all for no reason because it came out great in the end. This is definitely a time consuming process so don’t try to embark on this as a passing time, make sure you have a good chunk of time to do it. Also, the caramel will bubble and get larger while it’s cooking so make sure you’ve got a large enough pan to cook it in. I ended up having to switch pans over half way through because it almost boiled over.
The only problem I found with the apple chip idea was that the moisture on the apple made it a little difficult for the caramel to stick to it once the caramel got a little too cool. The recipe calls for it to sit for 10 minutes to cool before dipping and make sure you don’t let it sit too long or it will not stick to anything you dip it it.
I was overwhelmed with Halloween treat ideas this week and I think these ended up great so it was a good choice to make as my one Halloween baking adventure! Have a safe, happy, and delicious Halloween everyone!

Directions:
In a large enameled cast iron pot, combine butter, sugar, corn syrup and 1 cup heavy cream. Heat mixture to a boil just over medium heat (the 6 of an electric stove), stirring frequently. Once mixture has reached a boil, stir in remaining one cup heavy cream. Then without stirring,(again just slightly over medium heat) bring mixture to exactly 239 degrees then immediately remove from heat (this should take around 20 – 25 minutes). Carefully pour caramel into a medium nonstick saucepan and stir in vanilla (transferring caramel to another pan helps it cool faster and will leave behind some of the little brown specs at the bottom of the cast iron pan. You don’t have to transfer it but if you don’t just allow the caramel to cool a little longer than the 10 minutes). Allow to cool 10 minutes before dipping apples.

Immediately dip apples in caramel (note: from my experience this caramel doesn’t reheat well, so with that said you basically get one chance to dip so don’t let the caramel cool too long and work quickly when dipping, you may even want to have a friend help to be able work quicker). If you want to make yours to look like the ones pictured (with the apple showing through the center on top) then tilt apple when dipping and don’t fully immerse apple in the caramel, then carefully swirl the apple to coat all edges. Lift apple and let some of the excess caramel drip off and run the bottom of the apple along the inside edge of the pan. Tilt apple upside down and swirl just until the caramel is about to run off, then immediately turn upright and transfer to buttered baking dish in refrigerator. Repeat process with remaining apples, be sure to space them a bit apart on baking dish so they don’t stick together. Allow caramel coated apples to set in refrigerator.
Heat chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl on 50% power, in 30 second intervals stirring after each interval until melted and smooth. Using an icing spatula or butter knife, coat edges with melted chocolate and immediately sprinkle with desired toppings. Return to refrigerator to allow chocolate to set. Serve at room temperature and store in the refrigerator in airtight containers or Ziploc bags.